


Shows me colors when there's none to see

by bennettmp339



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Art, Art supplies, Blick Art, Canon Compliant, Captain America: The First Avenger, Gen, Happy Steve Bingo, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 03:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16077611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennettmp339/pseuds/bennettmp339
Summary: After having been colorblind before the serum, Steve sees the colors of the new century.





	Shows me colors when there's none to see

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Happy Steve Bingo, bingo square N-5, colors. 
> 
> Thanks to esaael for the prompt, and to cryo-bucky for the art supply store.
> 
> The title is from the song [ "The First Time," by U2](https://open.spotify.com/track/1T6Gh6QOePgmdxpDF1DFx6?si=HyCwtNXaT6GVwVw5s0Srkg).  
> Bono, Clayton, Adam C., The Edge, and Mullen, Jr., Larry J. (1993). The First Time. [Recorded by U2]. On _Zooropa_. [Audio File]. Dublin, Ireland: Island Records.

One of the first things Steve remembers seeing when the serum chamber opened was the red of Peggy’s immaculate lipstick. Then came the chase through the streets of New York, the yellow of the taxis, the blue of the last vial of the Erskine Serum. 

Then came the red, white, and blue sparkly blur that was the chorus line and his uniform. Then came the blue of the Tesseract, the red skull of The Red Skull, the green of the Howlie’s uniforms, the red of Monty’s beret, the dark blue of Bucky’s jacket.

The white and institutional green of the fake hospital SHIELD set up, the non-natural red hair of the fake nurse. The lights of Times Square, New York. 

Iron Man’s hot rod red and burned gold. Thor’s bright red cape and long blond hair. Loki’s dark green cape and almost black hair. The red of the Black Widow’s hair contrasted against her pale skin and black leather catsuit. The purple of Dr. Banner’s shirt, the green of the Hulk. The subtle purple detailing on Hawkeye’s suit, which shimmered like a blackbird in the light. 

The colors of the modern world made Steve’s fingers itch to draw, to draw with pastels and watercolors and acrylics and colored pencils, to draw what he couldn’t before the serum. To draw, to capture the colors of the world. 

It didn’t take long for Steve to decide that he needed to buy himself some art supplies, as many as he could afford. As many as he could buy on Tony’s black credit card, which turned out to be most of the store. He would learn later that Tony’s card didn’t _have_ a limit. 

Steve learned pretty quickly how to use the Internet on the sleek silver computers and the shiny black phones, marveling at how much everything had changed. And how little things had changed, despite the passing 70 years. He found bistros and restaurants that had been in business since before his birth, and learned that Blick Art was still in business. They were no longer a catalog-only company; they had physical stores around the country, including several in New York City. He went one day, bringing a reusable tote bag he’d borrowed from one of Pepper’s numerous assistants. 

Inside the store was almost overwhelming, with rows and rows of colorful art supplies, of messy paints and sharp pencils and fancy brushes and large canvases and expensive sketchbooks. And everything. Taking a deep breath, Steve picked up a shopping basket, and headed towards the pencils. He browsed for a while, picking up various supplies and looking them over before putting them back. Eventually, he chose a mid-priced set of pencils, a mid-priced set of fine-point drawing pens, and a mid-priced set of something called ‘watercolor pencils.’ After deciding on his pencils and pens, he headed over to the sketchbook aisle. There, he picked up an 11x17 inch sketchbook, a printer paper-sized sketchbook, and a smaller one that he could stick in his pocket. He wandered back over to the pencils, and picked up a set of gray drawing pencils, which came with a case, a sharpener, and a good eraser. He was set. He could always come back later, or see if he could order his supplies online. 

He bought his supplies and headed back to the Tower, already looking forward to drawing everything he could, starting with the colors of the new century.


End file.
